Bay Street Seen Opening On Cautious Note

The Canadian stock market is likely to open on a cautious note on Tuesday, tracking weak cues from Asia and Europe.

A couple of days after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on a 90-day truce on their escalating trade war, a sense of uncertainty appears to be creeping in about whether the two countries would be able to sort out trade issues within the agreed time frame.

Asian markets turned easy on Tuesday and European markets are somewhat sluggish amid concerns about Brexit and Italy's budget woes. With U.S. stock futures too pointing to a lower opening for Wall Street, the mood in the Canadian stock market is expected to be cautious to start with.

However, higher commodity prices may help limit any downside. Crude oil futures extended recent gains amid hopes leading crude producers Russia and Saudi Arabia will agree on production cut in the upcoming OPEC meeting in Vienna.

On Monday, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index retreated after an upbeat start, but managed to bounce back and end on a positive note. The index ended up 77.16 points, or 0.51%, at 15,274.98, after scaling a high of 15,378.90 and a low of 15,154.73 intraday.

In company news, Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) has reported net income of $1,695 million for the fourth quarter, up 38% over year-ago quarter. Adjusted net income was up 17%, at $1,529 million. The group has increased its dividend by $0.04 from the prior quarter to $1.00, up 8% from the prior year.

Teck Resources Ltd. (TECK.B.TO) announced that it has sold a 30% stake in its Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project to Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo Corp. for US$1.2 billion.

Enbridge Inc. (ENB.TO) announced Tuesday morning that affiliates of Enbridge have entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of Enbridge Gas New Brunswick Limited Partnership and Enbridge Gas New Brunswick Inc. to Liberty Utilities (Canada) LP, a wholly owned subsidiary of Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp., for a cash purchase price of CAD $331 million.

On the data fron, a report on Canadian Labor cost for the third quarter is due at 8:30 AM ET.

The Institute for Supply Management's report on business conditions in New York is also due at 8:30 AM ET.

In commodities, crude oil futures for January were rising $1.00, or 1.89%, at $53.95 a barrel.

Natural gas futures for January were up $0.044, or 1.01%, at $4.383 per million btu.

Gold futures for February were moving up $4.90, or 0.4%, at $1,244.50 an ounce.

Silver futures for March were up $0.131, or 0.9%, at $14.630 an ounce, while Copper futures for March were edging lower by $0.002, or 0.05%, at $2.808 per pound.